Judges 3:21-22

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹  belly. 3:22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud ²  did not pull the sword out of his belly. ³ 

Judges 13:5

13:5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. ⁴  You must never cut his hair, ⁵  for the child will be dedicated to God ⁶  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁷  of the Philistines.”

Judges 13:7

13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ⁸  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ⁹  For the child will be dedicated ¹⁰  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ¹¹  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ¹²  for I have been dedicated to God ¹³  from the time I was conceived. ¹⁴  If my head ¹⁵  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

[3:21]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:22]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:22]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has “and he went out to the [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew word פַּרְשְׁדֹנָה (parshÿdonah) which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. The noun has the article prefixed and directive suffix. The word may be a technical architectural term, indicating the area into which Ehud moved as he left the king and began his escape. In this case Ehud is the subject of the verb “went out.” The present translation omits the clause, understanding it as an ancient variant of the first clause in v. 23. Some take the noun as “back,” understand “sword” (from the preceding clause) as the subject, and translate “the sword came out his [i.e., Eglon’s] back.” But this rendering is unlikely since the Hebrew word for “sword” (חֶרֶב, kherev) is feminine and the verb form translated “came out” (וַיֵּצֵא, vayyetse’) is masculine. (One expects agreement in gender when the subject is supplied from the preceding clause. See Ezek 33:4, 6.) See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 146-48, for discussion of the options.

[13:5]  ³ tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her – actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant (see the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217). Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective הָרָה (harah, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.

[13:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”

[13:5]  ⁵ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

[13:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[13:7]  ⁴ tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.

[13:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”

[13:7]  ⁶ tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”

[16:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “all his heart.”

[16:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

[16:17]  ⁷ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

[16:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

[16:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).